Articles & Essays

Terror expert: ‘It’s their problem’

6 february 2015 -Daily Interlake

The solution to stopping the expanding grip of the Islamic State must come from the Middle East itself, an international terrorism expert told Kalispell Rotary Club members on Thursday.
“It’s their problem. It’s not our problem,” Loretta Napoleoni said. “Why are we fighting the wars of other people? Let’s get the Saudis to go and fight.”
Napoleoni, born and raised in Italy, lives part time in Whitefish and has written a dozen books largely about the intricacies of terrorism. She is an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism.

How the CIA Torture Program Helped Give Birth to the Islamic State

16 december 2014 – AlterNet

The recent report on the CIA’s extensive use of torture in the dark years following 9/11 concedes that no valuable intelligence sprang from these gruesome interrogation techniques. But it’s worse than that. In fact, the CIA ended up misleading the U.S. government on key security issues, using misinformation gained from the interrogations. Even Republican Senator John McCain, who was tortured in Vietnam, has confirmed that under extreme physical duress, people lie and admit whatever their torturers want them to say.

The Leonard Lopate Show

An expert on terrorist financing has said Islamic State (IS) poses a far greater threat than Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and that Australia’s foreign fighters law will not work.

Economist Loretta Napoleoni said IS acted like a government, raising money from taxes and resources like oil, and was on its way to setting up a 21st century caliphate – a state ruled by a supreme religious leader according to Islamic law.

Ms Napoleoni said the West’s policies, such as the Australian Government’s foreign fighters law, would not work because the dream of being part of an Islamic caliphate was so appealing to IS recruits.

In a new book about IS called The Islamist Phoenix, Ms Napoleoni said the rise of IS, previously known as ISIS, in Syria and Iraq took the world by surprise because the West was asleep at the wheel.

Islamic State “is a completely different model of terrorist financing

10 september 2014

What makes a terrorist organisation successful? Extreme views? The ability to recruit high numbers of dedicated and malleable followers?

These might be contributing factors, but what it really boils down to is money. Loretta Napoleoni, one of the leading experts on terrorist financing, and financial barrister William Willson, discuss the ways terrorists raise the billions of dollars needed to wage war against the state, and how this can actually have a positive impact on nations’ economies.

ISIL’s Agenda in Iraq (Voice of America)

18 june 2014

WASHINGTON — The Iraqi militants known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, have taken control of Iraq’s largest oil refinery in addition to a central bank and at least 12 towns and cities, including the country’s second largest, Mosul

ISIL funding becomes increasingly self-sufficient

21 june 2014

Last week, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and continued its offensive towards Baghdad. Operating in both Iraq and Syria, ISIL — now one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful terrorist organizations — is employing a complex funding scheme to enable its rapid expansion.